The year 2006
started with an enormous disappointment for Mirjam Melchers-van Poppel,
despite her victory in Worlds biggest cycling classic, the Tour of Flanders.

A visit to
Veldhoven Hospital saw her diagnosed with a vasoconstriction in her left
leg. This was operated upon in early June and Melchers began her
rehabilitation in order to prepare for the World Championships in
Salzburg.

In the run up
to the World Championships, Melchers started the Euregio Ladies Tour
without ambition but with some good results (she placed in the top ten in
the first two stages). Her form was improving and she was feeling good
until the crash which occurred in the closing kilometres of the third
stage. She broke her hip, pelvis and jaw. Melchers remembers: "I
still know everything from the crash, I conscious. But fortunately
all the bad memories are gradually disappearing."

Even from the
early days after the crash, there no chance that the "Gelderlandse"
(a native of the Gelderland region of the Netherlands) would retire from
her favourite sport, despite some fears that she would have to stop racing. "But
in that period the recovery process was much more important for me. To
ride optimal with a bicycle again was at that moment not my first
priority. First I had to go back to basics, to function normally and to do
the daily things without feeling any pain." She continues
"I have thought about a lot of things, you start to realise
that there is much more [to life] than just cycling. At
certain moments during the recovery process and the rehabilitation I have
thought to retire. It was certainly not a normal crash, but due to the
fact that I am now able to and want to speak about it, I have decided to
go on."

Now, three
months later, Melchers is doing very well. There is still some uncertainty
about whether she will be able to return to the highest level of
competition, to continue her career. But, according to her husband and
manager Jean-Paul van Poppel, she is very motivated to make a comeback. He
and the team are well aware that once she starts riding seriously again,
she will give her all, as as someone who is really addicted to cycling.

Melchers still
has some medical procedures to endure before concentrating fully on the
bike. On January 10th, doctors will determine whether they can remove the
screws in her pelvis. On 26 January 2007 she will undergo another
operation on her jaw in the University Hospital in Aachen.

TT - Stage 1 of
Euregio
Signing souvenir
jerseys
On her way to victory in Flanders

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